One of the bad ones that amazes me is the website for a huge retailer, Lowes. Now that I think of it, the Home Depot site isn’t so great either.

I think with so many using computers (and gadgets) these days, it’s important to ask that last question. “Would your parents”. Even your typical digital camera is pretty complicated to use. And while I am at it…what’s up with the microwave?

Have you ever gone to someone’s house and tried to use their microwave. If it’s a different brand than you are used to, there is a completely different sequence of buttons that you have to through to nuke your food.

but I am ranting a bit here…To answer your questions…

Too many features?

Probably, but not always. I think the key here is to really identify what features people really want to use and make those the easiest to get to.

Jargon?

I have my own personal issues with jargon. I think sometimes people make things too complicated when they are speaking to people that are not in their field. It’s very important to be able to convey your message to other people. Part of that skill is the ability to talk in common language even if you don’t think that it will make you sound as smart as possible.

Unusable interfaces?

The interfaces I design are pretty specific to our industry. So that’sa hard one to answer. We could do a better job, but we don’t really follow any type of software design model to speak of.

Last two questions…

Maybe, and no